Although Ginnie was born in Oakland, CA, during and after the World War II years, she lived in Washington, DC and New Haven, CT while her dad made training films for the Navy and later the State Department.
Ginnie met her first husband while attending UC Davis. He became a Navy pilot, so their first years of marriage were spent in Pensacola, FL. They eventually returned to California and raised citrus trees and four daughters near Visalia. She completed college at Fresno State and taught and served as a school psychologist with Visalia Unified.
Ginnie had been a single mom for a couple of years when she met Fred Jessup. Fred also had four daughters, so together they had eight! Fred was one of ten siblings, all of whom had large families. Suddenly there were over 100 relatives. It took a couple of years just to learn everyone’s name!
Fred had lived in Australia and then in Bogota, Columbia, as a member of Wycliffe Bible Translators. After they married, Ginnie joined up and they lived and served in Papua New Guinea for eight years and two years in Nairobi, Kenya. They both loved to travel by car, rail, cruise, and freighter ships. During their 33 years of marriage, they visited all 50 states and every continent except Antarctica.
When Fred contracted Parkinson’s Disease, Ginnie retired and they moved near the pier area of Pismo Beach. Because two of her daughters live in Ventura, the Townehouse has been a lovely place for Ginnie to live and to make new friends.